As cannabis continues to go mainstream, and an ever-increasing number of companies make it to major stock exchanges, market participants feel a growing need for sophisticated financial instruments to track the industry’s overall performance. Among these instruments are indices and ETFs.

U.S. traded ETFs include the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF (OTC: HMLSF), which replicates the North American Medical Marijuana Index, and the ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (NYSE: MJX), which replicates the Prime Alternative Harvest Index.

Beyond these two, a few other indices have been tracking the performance of marijuana stocks. Among them, the New Cannabis Ventures’ Cannabis Stock Index, which comprises 75 companies; there's also the not-closely-followed MJ Index, and the discontinued Viridian Cannabis Stock Index.

The Green Market Report Index

On Wednesday, Benzinga learned about a new cannabis stock index set to debut -- the Green Market Report Index. The index includes 30 public companies selected due to their market cap, revenues, and operational standards. “These companies must be predominantly focused on the cannabis industry and the list is reviewed on a quarterly basis,” the site explains.

“At Green Market Report, we have selected what we believe are the strongest names in the cannabis industry, focusing on pure cannabis companies,” Green Market Report CEO Debra Borchardt told Benzinga. This is why the firm excluded companies like Scotts Miracle-Gro Co (NYSE: SMG), which derives only 11 percent of its sales from its hydroponics business.

The index includes companies operating in the pharmaceutical, grow, ancillary and real estate sub-sectors.

"Public companies are becoming the norm in the cannabis market," Green Market Report co-founder Cynthia Salarizadeh said. "The companies that the Green Market Report have curated for the index are the ones that we feel are the most dominant in the cannabis industry. Not only did we review the market capitalization, but we also took a hard look at revenues and liabilities to assemble an index of the strongest possible names to follow as an indicator for the overall market."

“As the interest level for cannabis investing intensifies, an index that more narrowly defines the playing field is welcomed,” Karnes said. “With numerous public cannabis companies coming and going, the selection criteria for inclusion in this index should provide a more meaningful assessment of the cannabis industry's relative performance.”